The Dreamers
by WrathWings
Summary: It's all the same for the dreamers; it's all the same. . .for us. Damon/Jeremy slash/not explicit


I swear one of these days, I'm going to write happy fluff about bunnies and rainbows. . .This is Damon/Jeremy slash although it's not explicit. It was written to Broken Iris's _Where Butterflies Never Die. _You should listen to it while reading this; it adds something to it, specifically this line:

_It's all the same for the Dreamers; it's all the same. . .for us._

Enjoy~

* * *

Stefan first notices something's wrong when Elena calls him and tells him Jeremy's missing. His first thought is that Jeremy's been taken by vampires or he's run away, but then he remembers something else.

He hasn't seen Damon all day.

Normally he's surfaced by now to make some quip about Stefan being whipped or commenting on how lame Stefan's hair looks today. So where is- Oh. Oh no. Stefan's racing back to the estate in a heartbeat because Damon would never do that to Elena's brother, but he's Damon so really he could do anything-

He throws open the door and storms inside just to stop. Jeremy's sitting on the couch, looking serene with Damon's head on his lap. His brother is sleeping peacefully, undisturbed by Stefan's entrance. Jeremy is, for lack of a better word, petting Damon's hair. Jeremy's wrist are bloody and Damon's lips are stained red with it, but the boy isn't in pain or dead so Stefan's a little taken aback.

Finally, Jeremy sees him and raises his pointer finger to his lips. He's smiling, but he has a dazed, drugged look in his eyes.

"Damon." Stefan needs to talk to him. Now. "Damon!"

His brother blinks and then turns his head to glare at him. "Stefan, I was enjoying my nap. You'd better have a good reason for disturbing me."

"What are you doing?" Stefan looks between them.

"I think that's rather obvious." His brother is smug and he turns his head back to look up at Jeremy; the air around them changes and Stefan is horrified.

"Damon, stop compelling him. Send him home!" This is wrong. Jeremy's just a kid and Elena's going to kill them both.

"Why? I like him." Damon's still focused on Jeremy and the boy is gazing down at him with adoration. "And he likes me."

"He's compelled, brother." He's beginning to think Damon's really lost it this time. "He's not himself right now."

Damon finally looks at him again. The expression in those eyes is off and when Stefan figures it out, he's floored by it. Damon's eyes look dead. It's almost comical because they're vampires, they are dead, but Damon always had such life in him. And now. . .

Stefan's not sure who he's looking at.

"Don't patronize me, Stefan." Damon sits up and Jeremy seems wounded at the loss until the vampire runs his fingers down the boy's cheek; the human smiles, eyes wide and innocent, and Damon's lips tilt upward, mirroring him. "You have to go home now."

"But I want to stay here." Jeremy grabs his hand and holds it against his face.

Suddenly, Stefan's struck with the thought that he has to leave, that this is a private moment in Damon's life. Like he shouldn't be viewing such an intimate embrace. It unnerves him to the core.

"Go home, Jeremy. Go home, go to bed and _**sleep**_." Damon drops his hand away and Jeremy nods, standing.

He moves as if he's in the midst of a dream, walking past Stefan like he's not there, and the vampire faces down his brother.

"What you're doing is wrong, Damon." Stefan's given him this lecture a thousand times before; when is it going to sink in?

Damon's got him by the throat in an instant, snarling at him. "Do _**not **_patronize me, brother. I **know **what I'm doing."

"And you don't care who gets hurt?" Stefan wrenches away. "What are you planning? Are you going to change him?" Damon's quiet. He just stares into the fire and Stefan's about to throw up. "After what happened with Vicki? Are you out of your mind?"

"No, Stefan. I'm evil." His brother glares at him. "Don't you remember?" He picks up a glass and pours himself a drink. "Even if I was planning on turning him, I wouldn't let it end like that."

"Are you listening to yourself?" Damon's not this stupid. "Are you planning on compelling him to drink your blood? Like Katherine did to me? We know how that ended, Damon!"

"Well, Jeremy's not you and I'm not Katherine!" It sounds so tortured, so choked, and Stefan almost feels bad for him. "I wouldn't just leave him."

"You're delusional! Everything you touch, Damon, shatters in your hands! Dad, Caroline, Vicki, Katherine, Lexi! Do you really think changing Jeremy is going to break the pattern?" He wishes it were different. He wishes Damon was different.

But he's not. Damon is quiet for a minute. He studies his glass and then he laughs bitterly. "You're such a buzzkill, Stefan."

That's the cue. They're not going to talk about it anymore. Damon's shut himself off and no one will get him to discuss it further, not even Stefan.

"I just hope you've listened to me." He may not like Damon all the time, but they're still brothers and he doesn't want him to destroy someone else, especially Jeremy, whom he honestly seems to care for.

Jeremy wakes up later that night, his desk light turned on. Damon is sitting on the edge of his bed and his body relaxes even though his heart is racing. The vampire looks into his eyes and the human smiles, sitting up, moving closer to him.

Damon lets him slide against him, into his arms, and breathes in the scent of Jeremy's shampoo. His perfect little doll. He pushes him away just enough to look in his eyes.

"Do you love me?" He asks, voice barely a whisper, but Jeremy hears it and nods.

"With all my heart." The boy smiles, but looks confused.

Damon tries to grin back, but it falls off his face. "If only I could believe you." Jeremy's about to protest, but the vampire presses a chaste kiss to his lips and pushes him down. "Go back to sleep."

The human slides back underneath the covers and closes his eyes; the vampire goes home and stares into the fire.

Damon stops compelling Jeremy the next day. He tries to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest every time he sees Jeremy with Anna.

And Jeremy tries to ignore the empty feeling in the pit of his stomach that won't go away with food or drink or Anna. He tries to write it off to missing Vicki, but it won't go away and he wants to scream.

If only he knew.

* * *

This definitely puts a spin on their season finale talk, right?

Read and Review!


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